But as fast as they’ve been able to move, they’ve still had to say no.
Edwards says they were unable to supply another club store — Sam’s Club — because the manufacturing needed to be built out.
“That’s an example of where we had to put on the breaks a little bit and say, ‘Hey, guys, can we actually do this, or should we be more disciplined and take a pass right now and then circle back?’ If they’re still willing to work with us in the future, we can, (but) that’s not guaranteed, and that’s the hard part,” he says.
It’s a risk you have to take, Edwards says, when you’re trying to focus.
Rising to the challenges
Recruitment is a challenge, because Edward Marc cannot pay large salaries and it needs people willing to take a risk with the growing company.
Edwards says they’ve learned that the right skill sets aren’t enough. New hires must fit into the culture. They have to enjoy a team environment and cannot have a 9 to 5 mentality.
“You have to be able to be resourceful and be innovative and think on your toes and drink from the fire hose,” he says. “There is a lot of information and we’re moving — a week feels like a month, and a month feels like three months in the company. But we’re all building something together, and that’s what’s important.”
And if employees can’t rise to the challenges, it’s not a bad thing; it’s just not the company for them.
One unique initiative has been hiring refugees working toward their citizenship as temporary employees.
Edwards says they thought of it because of their background in politics. Edwards and his siblings worked in former President George W. Bush’s administration.
It’s increased the productivity of the full-time employees, and added an infectious dynamic to the workplace. For example, he recently went into the lunchroom and found the temps with fish and rice on the table, eating together like a family.
People are sometimes hesitant to come into a family business because they’ve heard horror stories. That’s not the case at Edward Marc, where the Edwards siblings were taught family comes first.
“And to be honest, we don’t really know anything else. I mean, even when we were working in the White House, we all worked together. I have pictures of us all on Air Force One together,” Edward says. “We don’t know of another way, and we’ve always worked together our entire career.”
They know how to sharpen each other, and the way everything is divided works. Edwards runs sales, marketing and planning. His sister supports that as co-CEO along with running human resources and internal operations, and his brother, who serves as COO, heads manufacturing and production.
The siblings made a decision together to make a career in the family business.
“We think every day, ‘OK, we’re going to enjoy this challenge because we are building this business,’” he says. “‘No matter how tough it gets, we’re the ones who are making the decisions and we’re the ones who’ve decided to do this. So let’s do it, and let’s do it the right way.’”
Edwards says when the siblings left the White House they could have worked for a large corporation, or done something in New York City, but they decided to return home.
“And here we are in Pittsburgh, and we have taken something that is really meaningful to our family and built on that. And we put our spin for our generation on what this family business is, and hopefully this will last for generations to come.”
